Haven’t any of these guys seen a zombie movie before? Always go for the head!

I should have known the second Lowell confessed his love that he was going to end up in a bad position pretty quick. This episode made me fall for him even more than I already have, and then ripped my heart out. I really loved everything about his relationship with Liv. It was honest, fun and meaningful. Not only has his death given a new layer to Blaine’s menace, but it’s made Liv’s stake in the zombie lord’s plans incredibly personal. The most annoying thing about this episode, though? Surely Lowell must have known a skewer to the arm would do sweet f all to a power hungry zombie?

Even before Lowell was killed, ‘Patriot Brains’ still felt like the first episode to dive head first into the long running arcs that we’ve seen play out for the past few weeks. The murder of an ex soldier felt more like a plot device to get Liv into place for that final scene rather than the sole focus of the episode itself. That’s perfectly fine, though, since the writers managed to make the case compelling enough that it wasn’t inconsequential by episode’s end.

Despite Major’s side plot being heavily connected to the let’s kill Blaine, there was very little overlap. Once again, Major started to lose even more of his credibility in his search for answers about what happened to Jerome, with Clive being presented with evidence that only strengthens the theory that Major is starting to lose his shit. On the plus side, he’s probably not chalking the brains thing down to body building supplements anymore, now that he’s seen firsthand how hard it is to stop a zombie when it’s angry. Now that he’s getting so close to the truth, I’m starting to think that he’s going to learn about Liv’s situation sooner rather than later. Hopefully sooner so he can actually take the Candyman down for real.

Plus

Ravi’s rat bite didn’t turn him into a zombie. I don’t think he’s completely in the clear though. Surely something will come of it over the next few episodes.

Hey, another Veronica Mars alum! It was so strange seeing Percy Daggs playing a bad guy. He’ll always be sweet, lovable Wallace to me!

He Said, She Said

Liv: “You’re not a weenie. You jump out of planes.”
Lowell: “Remember that when you’re looking through the scope of that rifle at the puddle of urine forming at my feet.”

‘Patriot Brains’ took iZombie in an exciting and emotional direction. Even though we knew Liv wouldn’t go through with her plan to kill Blaine, because obviously, the show felt like it was ready to start taking risks and begin building towards something bigger, which is a comforting thing to see as we approach the tail end of the season. Now that we’ve seen how brutal things can get, we can really invest in not just Blaine’s role as the big bad, but the potential for a grittier ending than we would have expected from this show.